Land of the Sacreds
by t3hJazzMasta
Summary: A story inspired by UC, but not related to the series. Vincent, an 18 year old boy, is involved in a terrible accident. After words, he finds a mysterious cave that will change his life forever.Rated T for some language and violence.
1. The cave

Introduction: While this story isn't related to UC directly, there are some similarities as it is inspired by it. The plot: Vincent, a boy of 18, finds a cave after a terrible car accident. At first, it seems like nothing, but what he finds deeper into the cave is spectacular, and frightening. Enjoy!

Land of the Sacreds

Chapter 1

The cold air made the sweat on Vincent's face feel like ice as he ran. Trying to forget what just happened; he stopped running and collapsed on the ground in front of a tree, trying to wrap his mind around what had happened that night. He had fallen asleep in the car with his father; they were driving home after going to a late movie. Vincent felt a huge jerk, and then he saw his father, slumped over the air bag, dead. After many tries, he got the door open and walked over to the driver's side of the other car. The other driver, a woman, was also dead.

The shock caused Vincent to start running, for no apparent reason. And now, as he lay in front of the tree, he realized that he couldn't't sleep out here on the ground. He got up, and went off into the woods to find shelter.

After several minutes of wandering, he found a small cave. Going inside, he saw a small pool of water in the back, and other than that, there was nothing else. It seemed safe enough to spend the night in, in the morning there would probably be police at the scene. The road was rarely used at this time, and no one would find the crash until around 6:00 in the morning. After about an hour or so, Vincent fell asleep on the cold, stone floor.

Upon waking up the next morning, he checked his watch and saw that it was 5:02 AM. Thirsty, he remembered the pond behind him and looked back, and saw two green, bright glowing lights just above the water. They quickly disappeared under the surface, and Vincent ran over to the water.

He was surprised that there were no ripples on the deathly still water. It was incredibly reflective; he could see every detail of his face. Curiously, Vincent stuck his hand into the water and felt…., nothing. It was like the water wasn't even there. No ripples, and when he pulled his hand out, it wasn't wet.

A strange idea struck him, and he was so interested in this pool of "water" that he forgot about going back to the crash. He stuck his face into the pool, and couldn't breathe, but a second later, he could. Looking down, he saw a vertical tunnel, and all of the rocks around him were glowing purple. His thirst had suddenly gone, but when he pulled his face out, it was back.

Deciding to investigate more, he swung his legs over the edge of the entrance. Taking a deep breath, he plunged himself into the tunnel.

It starts off slow, but will pick up in the next few chapters. I'll explain more about Vincent himself later on, as well.


	2. Sacred Land

Intro:I'm pretty pleased with this chapter, and I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it. I won't have much time to write, but I'll try to keep this story updated as quickly as possible. Please review once you are done reading.

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Chapter 2

The fall wasn't very long, and the ground on which Vincent landed on was smooth, and not jagged and sharp like he expected. The purple rocks around him shone mysteriously, and once again his thirst was gone. Looking up at the vertical shaft, he saw that it would be nearly impossible to get back up by climbing.

The noise of footsteps coming down a tunnel to his left cut Vincent's thinking short, and he turned towards the source of the noise. Once again he saw the two green lights that were floating above the pool. But the interior of the cave had been dark, it was impossible for him to have seen what the lights were attached to. But now, with the glowing purple rocks, he had plenty of light to see the being in front of him.

It stood about seven feet tall; its skin was completely black. On its chest, there was a series of white, v shaped marks, one above the other, and the pattern went down to its abdomen. It had a lean physique, and its face was long with a small rounded point at the end. The green eyes were fixated on Vincent, and where the mouth should be, there was nothing, not even a nose above it.

Despite the absence of a mouth, the creature spoke anyway. "Hello, human." It said in a voice that didn't sound much different from a normal person's. Vincent managed to stutter, "W-what are y-you?"

The creature responded, "I am an inhabitant of the Sacred land. I am of the race Tril, and my name is Magnel." While the creature said this, his eyes turned from green to blue.

"Tril? Sacred land?" Vincent wasn't sure if he was a wake or not, and this was all very confusing to him now.

"I will answer all of your questions once we get to the palace. So please if you will follow me, I will lead you there now." Magnel turned and walked away, while Vincent stayed in the same place, trying to decide what to do. He couldn't climb back up the tunnel, but he couldn't just sit here. His best choice was to follow Magnel.

"Are you coming? There's no other way you could go." Vincent walked down the tunnel, and saw him standing there. His eyes were green again. "I forgot to ask, what is your name?"

"My name? It's uh, Vincent." Magnel stuck out his hand, and Vincent hesitated before shaking it. "A pleasure to meet you Vincent. Now come, we must get to the palace." He started walking down the tunnel again, but this time Vincent followed. Eventually, the winding tunnel led out into a huge cavern.

A gigantic city was housed in the cavern, and the surface of all the buildings shone like glass, and the purple color of the rocks was present on the structures as well. The majestic looking buildings went up about ten stories, the tallest, which, Vincent presumed, was the tallest, was about fifteen stories tall.

"Welcome to the Tril's home, our only city in the Sacred land. No time to show you around, we must make haste and go see the king." Walking through the city with Magnel, Vincent saw tons of other Tril, each of them were about Magnel's height, and it would be impossible to tell them apart if it weren't for the markings on their bodies. It seems each Tril had a different symbol, so they could tell who was who.

The female Tril were a bit shorter than the males, and their physiques were more femininely shaped, as were their markings. Astounded, Vincent almost got separated from Magnel, but he caught up and asked, "Why do the Trils' eyes keep changing color?" Vincent had noticed that the eyes of the other Tril he saw in the city kept switching from blue to green, to red to purple, to gray.

"The color of our eyes reflects our emotions. Blue, for happiness or just generally normal emotions. Green, for curiosity and excitement. Purple is usually love and great, great joy, but has several other meanings. And red means that the Tril is angry, frustrated or flat out pissed off. Finally, gray is for anxiety, nervousness, or just being worried."

Vincent nodded, and kept walking behind Magnel, thinking to himself, _Need to remember that. Could come in handy when a Tril's eyes turn red._

"Well, this is the palace." Magnel said as they arrived at the building in the center of the town, with turrets, towers, and huge walls making it look like an old European castle, only glowing purple.

Two other Tril in front of the huge door crossed there arms across their chest when they saw Magnel, and he did the same. _So,_ Vincent thought, _I guess that was their solute._ The guards opened the great, wooden doors. Vincent didn't think they would have access to trees.

Magnel led him through winding passages, huge stair cases, and long corridors, until finally they reached another set of doors.

"Here we are, the kings throne room." He announced, and pulled the doors open.

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Now that you have read it, please review. I would also appreciate it if you would give out some constructive criticism. 


	3. King of the Tril

Well, here's the next chapter. A few questions are answered,but even more will be answered later. Please review after reading.

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Chapter 3

The first thing that Vincent noticed when Magnel opened the doors to the royal chamber was that the place was littered with books. Every where there were books from short, children's books to long, eight-hundred page novels. All of them reminded Vincent of his father, who had a serious obsession with literature and would read anything at any given time. Thinking of this made Vincent remember the whole reason he had found that cave, and he almost cried for a second, but he forced himself not to.

The king of the Tril was sitting in a very large and overly decorated throne. Unlike all of the other Tril, the king's skin was blood red. The mark on his chest was in the shape of an ace of spades. With his eyes gray, he set the book he was reading down when he noticed that Vincent and Magnel were in the room, and muttered, "Poor Tick," before standing up while his eyes turned green.

Magnel kneeled, and Vincent followed suit. When they stood up, Magnel said, "Vincent, this is our king, King Achnid."

"Welcome, Commander Magnel. I see we have a foreign visitor from the land above. What's your name, by the way?"

Vincent was nervous; King Achnid was probably the most important person he had ever met. Thankfully, Magnel answered the question for him.

"This is Vincent, your majesty. I found him near the entrance, and thought it would be best if you met him. It would certainly impress the Gode."

"The what?" Vincent blurted out.

"Oh, you probably have many questions." Achnid said. "Please, ask away."

_Finally, some answers, _Vincent thought. "How did the Tril first get here?"

"Our ancestors were once human like you. About nine-hundred years ago, the Sacred land was discovered by Europeans. The reason no one really knew about this continent until a few hundred years later is because our ancestors never returned. More and more people discovered this place, and the population has been growing and growing ever since."

"Why stay here though?" was Vincent's next question.

"The rocks." Magnel explained, "They hold a special ability to take away hunger, thirst, and disease. That is why we lack mouths and noses. We take in the air through out skin. This place was a paradise to out ancestors, and over time, the rocks changed us into our present state."

"Are there other races besides the Tril?"

Achnid replied, "Two other dominant ones. The Gode and the Ivs (Note: Pronounced Eye vz). There are also the Vuul (Another note: Pronounced Vool), but they are sort of like pets."

"You see," Magnel continued, "your race in the Sacred land is based on where your ancestors settled. If they settled on the East, your descendants became the Tril. West, Iv. North, Gode. And the South is the home of the Vuul, who are natural inhabitants of the Sacred land."

Vincent nodded, and out of curiosity, checked his watch. 8:36, it read. King Achnid noticed him doing this, and that's when Vincent realized that Achnid was also wearing a watch on his wrist.

"Hm. Almost time for him to be here."

"Who's coming?" Vincent asked.

"A messenger from the Ivs. Once he arrives, we have to send out our own message to the Gode."

"Any more questions, Vincent?" Magnel asked.

"King Achid, where did you get that watch?"

"Oh, this?" he said, looking at it again. "I got this on the surface. There's an entrance into a library from the palace."

That's when Vincent saw the ladder behind Achnid's throne.

"You mean that ladder there?" he asked, pointing to it.

"Yes, that is also where I get all of these books. To me, all of these stories are real. No matter how unrealistic they may sound."

Vincent nodded. "I know what you mean. My father studied literature for years."

"Well, maybe I could meet your father someday. Once you go back to the surface, you should tell your parents of this place."

Hearing this, a lump appeared in Vincent's throat, and once again, he had to force himself not to cry. To take his mind off of the matter, he asked, "How do you know English?"

"It is taught in our schools, and you aren't the first human to discover us. The last one was an expert on languages, and he helped up perfect our English, to the point were all dominant races of the sacred land speak it fluently. We adapt very, very quickly."

Another Tril then entered. But this one was female. Her mark were white, horizontal stripes all over her body. She looked like a zebra. She bowed and said, "King Achnid, the messenger from the Ivs has arrived. he'll be up here in a moment, you know how slow they walk."

"Vincent, this is General Millia. She has full control over our army, and is an excellent soldier. Millia, Vincent is from the surface. You are to answer any questions he asks, as he is probably still a little confused.

Vincent shrugged, and replied, "I'll ask the rest of my questions later." He was sort of excited to see his first Iv, and he was trying to think of what they might look like. He heard loud, thunderous footsteps coming up the stairs, and what entered the royal chamber wasn't what vincent expected at all.

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Everyone most likely got the UC reference. Anyway, please review and give me some advice on how to improve it. Thanks. 


	4. Ivs

This chapter contains profanity. For some reason, I felt like it was necessary for this chapter. Please read and review. Sorry for the slow updates.

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Chapter 4

When the Iv first entered, Vincent almost crapped his pants. The thing was huge. About the size of a polar bear in its hind legs. But that wasn't the most surprising thing about it.

Its skin was a cobalt color, and it looked like it has scales all over its body. Instead of having the color changing eyes of the Tril, the Ivs had normal human eyes. Unlike the rest of its body, the Iv's face looked soft, and around its face was something that reminded Vincent of an eyelid. But like the Tril, there was no mouth or nose. It was hunched over, with large spike-like extensions (for lack of a better word) of its spine sticking out of its back. The mark on its chest was just a large, white spot with three lines going through it.

But the thing about it that had Vincent most scared was its right arm, or lack there of. Instead of being exactly like its left, the right arm ended about half way and the bone was sticking out, the end had a point that looked very sharp and deadly.

"Holy shit." Vincent whispered after a while. The large beast lumbered into the room, and didn't even seem to notice Vincent. Instead, he spoke directly to Achnid.

"Your majesty, the meeting of kings will take place in the Gode's land. You and your ambassador will travel with King Thanatos and me to their city."

"Very well. You and Thanatos have full access to the palace for the night."

The Iv nodded and turned to leave, but before he did, Millia asked, "What is your name? We need to know who is staying."

"My name is Hypnos. Only King Thanatos and I are attending the meeting and staying here for the night, but you may bring as many ambassadors as you want to the Gode's city." He replied, in his deep monotone voice. He then left the room, and Magnel shut the door.

"What's the meeting of Kings?" Vincent asked.

"A meeting between the Ivs, the Gode, and Tril where we settle any disputes. Usually all of them are solved, but three of the meetings have ended with someone declaring war."

There was a window in the royal chamber, and Vincent could see to the outskirts of the city. On the very edge sat what looked like a chariot, with boar sized animals pulling it. In the chariot was another Iv, but this one was even bigger than Hypnos was, and had red skin just like Achnid.

Magnel noticed Vincent looking at the chariot and said, "That is King Thanatos. He is a good ally to us, and a very reasonable person."

"What are those things pulling the chariot?"

"Those are Vuul." Millia replied, "Female Vuul, to be exact. The males are smaller, and not strong enough to pull our chariots. "

"I see." Vincent said. Vincent couldn't get a good view of them from the palace, but they looked like something you didn't want to get angry.

King Achnid came over to Vincent, and asked, "Vincent, if it is no trouble, would you mind being one of my ambassadors? The Gode would love to meet you, and you'd be safe with us."

It was now that Vincent started being worried about staying in the Sacred land. "I can't stay here." he replied, "I need to get back to the surface soon."

Achnid nodded. "I understand your family is probably worried about you. You may go if you wish, but remember the offer still stands."

His family. Who would take care of him now? His mother had died of cancer two years ago, and now his father was dead. The only people left to take care of him, seeing as he didn't have a job and was practically on his own, were his father's brother and step sister, both of whom were rather terrible people. But perhaps now that his father was gone, they

would be a bit kinder and take Vincent in? _Fat chance, _Vincent thought,_they couldn't_

_even take care of a goldfish, let alone an eighteen-year old._

"I guess…" he said after a while, "I'll stay for a while longer."

"That's what I want to hear." Achnid replied, "We will depart for the Gode's land in the morning. Until then, I will have Magnel and Millia show you around the palace."

Magnel and Millia kneeled before leaving the room, and Vincent did the same. Again Vincent went through the winding passages of the palace, only this time they made stops in rooms like the library, which was full of many books that Vincent had read, and the armory, which contained swords, axes, dagger, and bows. At every stop either Magnel or Millia would give a small explanation of the room, and then they would leave.

Because of the large size of Achnid's palace, it took them hours to visit all of the rooms. The final room they visited was the one they would be staying in, and in the back was a shower like device. That's when Vincent realized he would either have to clean his clothes every day, or get new ones. But the Tril didn't wear clothes.

"Uh, Magnel, I'll need new clothes. I can't keep these on for the rest of the time I'm down here."

"No problem. We will try our best to make you new clothes."

Vincent nodded, and decided that he would bathe in the morning. For tonight, he would have to sleep in the clothes he was wearing. He lay down on the bed set out for him, with Magnel, Millia, and several other Tril in beds next to him. Eventually, the welcoming hands of sleep enveloped him.

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We'll, there you have it. Please review. 


	5. Dreams or memories?

Sorry it took so long to get this out. I need more reviews from you guys. The real action starts in the next chapter, it'll be good.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the...oh wait, I own all of the characters.

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Chapter 5

He was in the car again. His father was next to him. Maybe the Sacred land was all a dream. Vincent relaxed in his seat, glad to be on the surface. Just as he was about to say something to his father, he noticed something in the road.

The glowing eyes of the creature ahead reminded Vincent of a Tril, but when the headlights illuminated it, the thing looked a lot different. It was about a whole foot shorter than the Tril, and was carrying a glowing rock. But instead of being purple, this one was glowing green. Its body looked like a large mass of green vines. This creature had long, razor sharp teeth unlike the Ivs or Tril. The shoulders were broad, and the arms hung down almost to its feet. There were only three toes on its feet, which were very bird like. The hands had huge talons, at least three inches long. If there was a mark on its chest, Vincent couldn't see it because a huge blue cloth was covering its torso.

Vincent's father saw this, and swerved the car. Then came that huge jerk again, and Vincent abruptly woke up.

He was sweating a lot and terrified, but he maintained his composure when he remembered that there were Tril sleeping around him. All except one.

Magnel was sitting up in his bed, looking over at Vincent. It seemed like he'd been awake for sometime, as he didn't seem the least bit tired. Though it was hard to tell when he didn't have pupils, eyebrows, or a mouth.

"Bad dream?" Magnel asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah." Vincent answered, rubbing his eyes. He didn't think he was getting back to sleep.

"Anyone ever tell you that you talk in your sleep?"

"My father used to all the time."

"You were dreaming about him, weren't you?"

"My father?"

"Yup. You told him to watch out for something."

"Oh, that."

Magnel's eyes turned greenish gray. "He's dead, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Vincent whispered so quietly he wasn't even sure Magnel heard him until he spoke again.

"That's tough. My parents both died recently." He said, looking up at the ceiling. "What about your mother?"

"She's dead too. Cancer."

"Sorry, wouldn't know about that. No one gets diseases in the Sacred land."

"Oh, sorry."

"Who's going to take care of you now that your parents are gone?" he asked, turning towards Vincent again.

"I could live on my own, but I don't have money or a place to stay. So I guess my aunt and uncle. But they hate me, and everyone else." Then Vincent thought of something strange. "Why are you awake, Magnel?"

"Oh, I couldn't stop dreaming about her."

"About who?"

"Her." He replied, with a small gesture towards the bed next to Vincent, where Millia was sleeping soundly.

"Millia? You were dreaming about her?"

"Yeah, every time I sleep, she's in my dreams."

Vincent noticed that Magnel's eyes turned purple when he looked at Millia, and Vincent understood.

"You're in love with her." Vincent said.

"Desperately. But I think I'm a bit too old for her."

"Why?" Vincent asked, "How old are you?"

"132," he replied, "and she's 96." Magnel looked at Vincent again. "How old are you by the way?"

Vincent guessed that the Tril could live a lot longer than humans could.

"I'm 18. But humans don't live as long as Tril do. Most people don't make it to 100."

"I see. Well, I suppose we better get back to sleep. Good night, Vincent."

"Please, call me Vince."

Magnel shrugged and said, "Fine. Good night Vince."

"G'night Magnel."

Vincent slept for another 3 hours before Magnel woke him up. Apparently Vince (AN: I'll be calling him this from now on) had to have 2 hours of combat training before he could leave, as there had been several murders outside of the Gode's land recently.

Magnel, Millia, and a few other soldiers escorted Vince to a small building near the palace. Inside, it was a room filled with all sorts of weapons. Millia walked over to a Tril who was supervising the training of others.

"Vincent…" she began, before Vince cut her off.

"Just call me Vince."

"Okay then, Vince. This is Virgil; he'll start your training today."

Virgil was the burliest Tril Vince had seen so far. One punch from him, and you'd be out cold. The symbol on his chest was a large triangle with the shape of an upside down triangle in the middle of it (AN: Uh, yeah, it's the triforce).

He stuck his hand out and Vince shook it. "Vince, you'll be starting out with a wooden sword. Hold on, I'll get one for you."

He came back with one, and said, "I think this one will suit you fine. Try it out. Swing it around a few times."

It felt light, but powerful. Vince didn't think he would be a very good swordsman, but he really didn't have a choice. He noticed that Virgil had brought one for himself, and now Vince was starting to worry.

"Okay," Virgil said, steadying his sword, "We'll start out easy. Hold your sword with one hand, and swing it lightly at me."

Vince hesitated a bit before doing so, and Virgil easily blocked it. "Good, now keep swinging it, but a little harder and faster each time."

The sound of the two wooden swords hitting each other was getting more frequent now. Vince tried to concentrate as Virgil started to counter Vince's attacks. Soon they were both giving it their all, and before Vince new it, his sword was on the ground and Virgil had his sword to Vince's throat.

"Not bad." Virgil said, lowering his sword, "You did better than most during their first session. We'll come back to this later, but now it's time for some archery."

Vince nodded, and Magnel walked over with a bow and a quiver of arrows. Vince grabbed it and slumped the quiver over his shoulder. He turned toward the targets to his left and pulled an arrow out. He pulled the string back, aimed carefully, and fired the arrow, hitting the bull's eye.

"Wow," Millia said, "Those are pretty impressive arching skills."

"Yeah, they taught us how to do that in Junior High." Vince replied, pleased with his work. He fired a few more arrows, and each one was very close to the last one he had fired.

"Okay then." Virgil said as he walked over to Vince, "I think it's time for real sword training." He had brought over actual, really sharp blades.

"This is where the training really begins. You're sparring with Magnel, now."

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So, the next chapter will be better. Please review, I won't post another chapter until I have at least five. 


	6. Training

OK, so I really need more reviews, guys. I need to now how it can be improved. I have a beta now, so I think the chapters will be better from now on.

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Chapter 6

Virgil handed Vince the sword as well as a heavy shield. Magnel took up his sword and shield and started to prepare for the match, whipping his blade through the air. Watching this, Vince started sweating.

"Don't worry Vince, I'm not aiming to kill you," Magnel said as he swung the blade at him, "I'm just going to sever a limb or two."

Vince blocked it with his shield, and aimed for Magnel's legs. He easily sidestepped Vince's attack, and started a flurry of strikes that Vince could barely deflect. After about two minutes of sparring, Vince's adrenaline-pumped mind gave him an idea.

He swung his sword at Magnel's legs once again. Just as Vince had hoped he stopped Vincent's blade with his shield. This gave Vince the opportunity to ram his shield into Magnel's face. He stumbled backwards, and fell flat on the ground.

"Damn," Magnel said. "That was a good strategy."

Vince had a huge grin on his face as Virgil said, "You bested Magnel. Too bad that's not saying much."

Magnel narrowed his eyes (which Vince just realized the Tril could do) as they turned red. "Shut up, brother. You can't do much better."

"Brother? Virgil's your brother?"

Magnel got up and said in a mocking tone, "Yeah, Virgil's my younger brother."

Now it was Virgil's eyes that turned red. "Only by fifty years. Anyway, you're going up against me now."

He pulled the sword and shield out of Magnel's hands and held them up. "Come on; show me what you've got."

Vincent once again prepped for battle. This time he was going up against a bigger opponent. This was going to be tough.

Virgil's first strike came swiftly to Vince's feet. He tried the same thing Vince did with Magnel, but Vince ducked the shield, rolled on his shoulder so he was behind the large Tril, and hit Virgil's back with the hilt of his sword, knocking him to the ground.

"Holy crap, kid," Virgil puffed, standing up. "You'd make a great tactician."

"I'm even surprising myself," Vincent murmured. He had no idea he was so good at this.

Millia sort of giggled, and said, "Come on, you guys are embarrassing yourselves. Let me see the sword."

Mumbling to himself, Virgil handed them over to Millia. She braced herself, as did Vince, for the sparring match. "You make the first move," Millia said coolly. Vince thrust his shield towards her face, and his sword towards her stomach. In one swift movement, she deflected Vince's shield and knocked his sword out of his hand.

"You're good, Vince. But you've still got a lot to learn."

After that, they had several other matches, with Millia winning the most, and Magnel close behind her. Vince guessed that the three soldiers had been holding back on him, as he didn't win even one after his loss against Millia.

"Okay, I think we're done with that." Virgil said, "We've got another half hour before you guys leave, so I'm going to teach you about the weaknesses of an Iv, as they're probably the ones killing out there."

Vince nodded, and Magnel went off to find a dummy of an Iv. Virgil started talking again when he returned.

"Fighting an Iv is hard, as nothing can pierce their skin. Nothing," he explained, standing the dummy up. "They only have one soft spot: their faces. Unlike their skin, it can be punctured by almost anything. But they can protect their faces with this."

He closed the eyelid like thing around the dummy's face, completely concealing it.

"But of course, they can't see like this. So they rarely hit their targets. But that doesn't mean you should underestimate them," Virgil went on. "Fighting a Gode is almost just like fighting a Tril, except you have to watch out for their claws."

A sound like a bell in a clock tower chimed, and Millia said, "Thanks, Virgil. We got to get back to Achnid now. See you later."

"Thanks for everything, Virgil." Vince said, shaking his hand once again. "It'll be helpful if I run into any trouble."

"Be careful out there, Vince. The Sacred land can be very dangerous."

Magnel just waved at Virgil before leaving, and Vince accompanied them back outside to where Achnid was waiting in a chariot.

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Thanks for reading, and please review!! 


	7. Journey

Whew, finally got this one up. Sorry that took so long. Enjoy!

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Chapter 7

Vince wasn't surprised to see Achnid reading as he walked out of the training building and over to the palace. It seemed Achnid was on the last page of his book, but Vince couldn't see the title from where he was. He set it down as he saw Millia, Magnel, and Vince.

"I hope they go back," Achnid murmured. "Hello, Vincent (Vince didn't think it would be polite to ask a king to call him Vince), I want to introduce you to the king of the Ivs, Thanatos."

King Thanatos and Hypnos were sitting in a chariot next to Achnid's. Thanatos turned to Vince, allowing him the see the mark on his chest (it almost looked like a wheel). In his loud, booming voice he said, "A surfacer Achnid? Never thought I would see one."

"H-hello," Vince said, a bit intimidated, not only by Thanatos, but by the Vuul as well. He was right in thinking they were the size of boars, but he couldn't see their huge teeth from the palace. Their barely visible eyes, which were deep in their light pink skin, were on Vince as he climbed into the chariot along with Magnel and Millia.

At last the two chariots started moving, and after a few minutes, they were moving at top speed, which had to be at least 65 miles per hour, through some of the strangest terrain Vince had ever seen. There were weirdly shaped rocks all over, and it was a miracle that the chariots hadn't capsized yet.

Vince started to sweat as he gripped the side of the speeding, wooden deathtrap and asked Magnel , "Are the chariots always this fast?"

Magnel chuckled as he said, "This is nothing. You should see the races."

"Much faster," Millia agreed, nodding her head.

Vince closed his eyes as the chariots hurled onward towards the Gode's land.

After about two hours, the two vehicles came across a long, wide, sturdy looking rope bridge. It was big enough for both chariots to move across side by side. But at the other end, there were two more chariots blocking the bridge. Both Achnid and Thanatos started pulling on the reins of the chariot to stop the Vuul from moving.

"Sire!" Millia said, "Could they be...?"

Achnid's eyes turned gray as he said, "I think they are."

"What is it?" Vince asked Magnel.

"You'll learn soon enough. Just get ready to use your sword." he replied.

Vince grabbed the hilt of the blade on his belt. Vince could make out some Tril and Ivs in the chariots at the end of the bridge, but there were a few of another type of Sacred that Vince guessed were the Gode. They looked familiar to him, for some reason.

"Alright," Achnid spoke rapidly to the other passengers in the chariot, "We're going to move full speed towards them and try to break through."

"Fine with me," Magnel replied.

Vince swallowed nervously as Achnid started to get the Vull moving again. In no time at all, both the Tril's and the Iv's chariots were moving faster than ever towards the other two at the end of the bridge. "Get ready!" Vince heard Hypnos boom.

The Sacreds in the other chariots looked fierce as the Vuul hauled the two kings, a few soldiers, and Vincent right at them. When the chariots collided, a long, green, vine like arm with long talons grabbed at Vince. Looking to his right, Vince saw the same creature that was in his dream. Only now Vince could read the letters on the blue cloth on its chest. In large, bold white letters, it read:SSC

Luckily, the plan had worked as the other two chariots tipped over, and theirs kept moving on through. "Damn, that was pretty close." Achnid sighed. "You alright over there?" he called to the chariot next to them.

"Just fine!" Vince heard Thanatos call back. "I bet we'll see much worse before we get to the Gode's city!"

This is going to be a long day, Vince thought.

Though Thanatos was wrong, as they arrived at the Gode's land without anymore problems. The city didn't look like a city at all, instead it looked like a gigantic forest. So, this is where the Tril get their wood from, Vince thought, remembering the wooden doors in the Tril's palace.

The chariots went into an opening in the forest, and stopped. Vince was right in suspecting that the creatures in the chariots were Godes, as a few of them came up to the chariot to greet the visitors.

"Welcome to the city of the Gode, King Achnid and King Thanatos." said one of them as everyone climbed out of the chariots. "And welcome ambassadors of the kings. I am Perseus, and I'm sure that..."

Perseus suddenly froze when he saw Vince. "A...surfacer!?" he gasped. "Remarkable!"

Turning to Achnid, he said, "You didn't mention a surfacer, Achnid!"

Achnid shrugged and said, "Sorry Perseus, I wanted to surprise you."

Having a mouth and a full set of teeth, Perseus could smile as he said, "Achnid old friend, I am grateful that you thought of me when you brought him along."

Seeing as Achnid knew this Gode, Vince made note of his diamond shaped mark on his chest. He then said to Perseus, "Hello, I am Vincent, but please call me Vince."

"A pleasure, Vince. Now come, we must meet with the king before the Meeting of Kings starts. This way, please."

Vince felt a bit better after meeting Perseus, for some reason. He walked faster than everyone else, eager to meet the king of the Gode.

* * *

Hey, now an enemy has been introduced. A full description of the Gode is a few chapters back, btw. Hope you liked it. I'll have to consult my beta on what to do for the next chapter.


	8. Land of the Gode

Yay, another chapter! I'm pleased with this one it explains the SSC a bit.

* * *

Chapter 8

The Godes' land was great. The majestic trees that sprouted right out of the stone ground had houses high in the branches. Vince saw several Gode using their claws to scale the huge trees. They also were very agile and several were using their long arms like vines-which they looked like- and were swinging from branch to branch. Their bird-like feet were excellent for hanging onto the branches.

But something was still bothering Vince. Why had he seen a Gode in his dream? It didn't make any sense. He also noticed that instead of purple glowing rocks like in the Tril's land, the rocks here were a pale green, like the rock the Gode in his dream was carrying. He decided to let Magnel catch up to him so they could speak.

"Magnel, I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" he replied, readjusting a bag he had over his shoulder.

"Last night, I had a dream, about my father's death, and I saw a Gode in the dream. He actually caused the accident that killed my father. But, I've never seen the Gode before today."

Magnel thought for a while before saying, "Perhaps it was a memory?"

"Hm," Vince said, "maybe you're right."

Again Vince looked at the green stones on the ground and asked another question, "Also in the dream, the Gode I saw was carrying…"

Magnel interrupted him, saying, "This?" he pulled out a green stone from the bag on his shoulder, and it looked exactly as Vince remembered it.

"That's it! How do you have it?" he reached out and plucked it from Magnels' hand.

"I found it on the ground a few minutes before I found you."

Thinking back, Vince remembered Magnel carrying a bag much like the one he was carrying now.

"Green rocks are only in the Gode's land. So there must have been a Gode that went to the surface."

"Why would he need the rock?"

"He wouldn't be able to live for more than a few minutes on the surface without it. The air is different, diseases could kill him. The rocks, as you remember, somehow protect us from disease."

Vince chuckled. It was funny to think that they thought diseases could kill you in a matter of minutes.

"One more thing," Vince said, "The Gode was wearing a blue cloth on his chest, and it said SSC on it, just like the Sacreds who attacked us earlier. What does that mean?"

"The SSC was a group of Sacreds who almost overthrew the three kings of the Sacred Land. They are also the reason the Tril have so much land, as the leader was a Tril and succeeded in expanding the territories of the city. SSC stands for Secret Sacred Council, and they conceal their identities with those cloths. After they took over Tril's city, the former king, who had somehow survived, managed to convince the Ivs to help them regain his kingdom. But by the time they were ready to attack, the Gode had fallen as well. The remnants of the Tril's army and the Ivs took a risk by making a deal with…"

He suddenly stopped, and said, "But the point is, the SSC was defeated, and their leader was killed. That is why the Ivs and the Tril are allies, as they worked together to put an end to the SSC."

"And now they're back?" Vince asked, he was so fascinated by the story that he didn't notice that Magnel didn't tell him who the Ivs and the former Tril king had allied with.

"Seems like it. It's one of the topics we're bringing up in the meeting."

Vince nodded and kept walking; still intrigued by the way the Gode lived. There was something about Perseus that made Vince want to trust him, so he walked up next to him and said, "What exactly is your job, Perseus?"

Without even bothering to look at Vince, he replied, "I'm an ambassador and general of the Gode army. Not only does the Gode king trust me, but Achnid and Thanatos do as well. Not to brag, but I am probably the most trusted person in the Sacred Land."

"So, why are you trusted so much?"

"I've talked people out f starting wars, committing suicide, and things like that. People just seem to trust me."

Vince just had one more question to ask him, so he said, "About the SS…"

"No more time for questions. We are arriving at the palace now."

The Gode's palace was a lot smaller than the Tril's. It was a giant hollowed out tree, and there were Gode climbing all over it. A huge hole served as a door way, and several guards bowed as the kings and their ambassadors entered.

Instead of stair cases, the Gode used long lengths of rope to get to another floor. There was a large elevator like device next to the ropes. A sign next to it read: Per Ivs soltanto.

Vince had no idea what it said, but in English at the bottom was a translation. For Ivs only.

As they came near the ropes, Perseus immediately grabbed one and scurried up at an amazing pace. The three Tril and Vince grabbed other ropes and started their slow climb, with Millia muttering, "I always hated this part…"

Meanwhile, Thanatos and Hypnos were going up in the elevator, where a Gode servant was desperately trying to pull a rope to move it upwards. Vince couldn't help but laugh at seeing the Gode struggling to carry their combined weight.

Eventually all of them were on the right floor, and they proceeded to the king's chambers. Before they entered, Perseus stopped them.

"For those of you who don't know, King Telemachus doesn't speak English, so I'll be translating for him."

He turned around and opened the doors, allowing them in. The king was staring out a window in his room. He noticed that he had visitors, and gestured towards the door, telling Perseus to shut it. His red skin was the same shade as Achnid's and Thanatos's. The mark on his chest was long, diagonal line with strange designs on it. When he saw Vince, his eyes turned green and he said, "Un surfacer! Incredibile!"

Perseus whispered into his ear, "He says it is incredible to see you."

Vince just nodded. The language he spoke sounding familiar.

"Dare il benvenuto alla mia città. La riunione comincerà in un'ora più o meno."

"He welcomes you all and says the meeting will start in about an hour."

"Lei può il giro il palazzo mentre lei attende."

"You are free to tour the palace while you wait."

Vince then recognized the language he was speaking, and said to Telemachus with a smile, "Ringraziarla."

Telemachus gasped and said, "Il ragazzo sa molto!"

But it was the only thing Vince knew how to say in that language.

Vince walked out of the room along with everyone else. After seeing a lot of the floor they were on in the palace, Perseus came to tell them that the meeting was about to start on the first floor. Vince groaned as he grabbed the rope again and started his slow descent.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed it. I'm open to criticism from anyone.


	9. The Meeting of Kings

Chapter 9

After the tiring and extremely difficult task of climbing down the rope, the travelers arrived in a circular room with a large wooden table standing in the middle of it. They all pulled up a seat, sitting with their own race, besides Vince, who was sitting with the Tril.

After a few minutes of waiting, King Telemachus entered the room along with Perseus and another Gode that Vince did not know. His mark was a line that started on the top of his head and went straight down his body. Hypnos greeted him as Orestes.

They sat down and were talking silently to themselves. Eventually, Telemachus nodded at Thanatos. He stood up, and slammed his large fist on the table, and said, "The meeting of kings is now in order. King Achnid, King Telemachus, and myself, will give our opening statements."

Achnid then stood up and said, "Like always, it is a pleasure to be here. I want to start by saying that we only have one, very important issue to bring up, but I will wait until you two give your opening statements." He sat down next to Millia, and started whispering something to her.

Now both Telemachus and Perseus stood up. Telemachus was talking into Perseus' ear, who said, "King Telemachus says that it is always good to see you both. He also says that he thinks they will solve many problems today."

Now it was Thanatos' turn once more and told everyone, "The Ivs are hoping this meeting will set everything straight for all of us. I think I speak for everyone here when I say we don't want another war."

"Now," Achnid said, "I want to talk about the return of the SSC. As we all know, they have been attacking travelers who come near your city, Telemachus. Do you know anything about this?"

Perseus translated, "He says that the SSC have always been a mystery to him. He has been considering sending troops to try and find their hideout, but does not want to risk an attack on the city."

"If you really want to know what the SSC is planning, why don't you ask their former general?" Thanatos boomed.

"That was a long time ago!" Orestes snapped, "I have nothing to do with the SSC now. I even helped the former Iv king defeat them. That is why I am here today."

"If I may say something," Perseus interjected, "I think there is a traitor somewhere out there. But I am not sure who it is. If you ask me, I think that the traitor lies within the Tril army."

"That is not likely," Magnel said, "Our soldiers are 100 loyal to Achnid. It is more likely that he lies within your army. Why else would they be entering your city while everyone is asleep?"

"Agreed," Hypnos said, "Both Magnel and I have seen it several times. They enter and leave quickly, though nothing is stolen or damaged after they are gone."

"Telemachus says he will look into this." Perseus translated.

"Well, it does seem fairly obvious that there is someone here that is in contact with them," Orestes said, "But we also have several Tril and Ivs living in this area. For all we know, it could be one of them."

"When we were attacked on the bridge," Vince added, "There were more Gode than anything else. And one of them tried to grab me."

"That is because the SSC is against surfacers coming into the Sacred Land. Last time the war with them was ignited by one of your kind," Thanatos said.

"The point is that the SSC must be driven out. I say we are on alert until Vince is safely back home."

The rest of the meeting addressed small issues such as transportation and domesticated Vuul. After another hour of debating, Thanatos called an end to the meeting.

"That wasn't so bad," Vince said to Millia. "I'm glad no one declared war."

"Someone is going to have to soon," she replied. "The SSC pose a large threat to the three dominant species of Sacreds."

Three dominant species? Does that mean there are subdominant ones besides the Vuul? Vince thought to himself.

Thankfully, the rooms they would be sleeping in were on the bottom floor of the Gode palace. For security reasons, Vince was sleeping in his own room, guarded by Gode warriors. They didn't want the SSC killing him in the middle of the night.

One of the guards came into his room before he went to bed. "Are you in need of any assistance, Sir?" he said, in a heavy German accent.

"No thank you, I'm fine."

"Very well, then."

Vince turned his back to the Gode, who stayed in the room. Vince didn't see him putting on a purple sash behind him. The guard outside closed the door, so as the sounds inside would be muffled. Vince turned around just as the claws of the assassin came at him; he barely had time to dodge the attack. He backed onto the wall, just as Magnel came up to the guard at the door.

"May I go in to see Vince?" he asked the Gode.

"Sorry," the guard relied. "Sir Vince is sleeping."

The assassin knocked over a table inside the room, and Magnel heard the crash from outside.

"What was that?" Magnel asked, trying to get in. But the guard only blocked his way. Inside, Vince rammed into the door as hard as he could, and it broke open, pushing the other guard into Magnel, and they all collapsed on the floor, the assassin still coming at Vince.

"Die, Surfacer!" the other Gode yelled, slashing his claws, but he only managed to create a huge, bloody gash on the other guard's chest. He yelled in pain as blood splashed onto Magnel and Vince.

As the assassin was getting over the shock of injuring his friend, Magnel managed to kick him in the chest. He stumbled backwards into the room, and Magnel stood up and followed him in. More Gode were now coming out to see what was happening, and they arrived just in time to see Magnel push the assassin out of the window.


	10. The SSC

I think this is a good chapter.I started one of the scenes I was most excited about writing, so enjoy. Review if possible.

* * *

Chapter 10

"Traitor!" Vince heard someone yell. He turned around and saw that it was Perseus. "Seize him!"

"No, wait!" Vince protested, struggling to his feet. "That guard was trying to kill me! He was an assassin for the SSC!"

"But Magnel still killed him!"

"He's not dead." Magnel said casually, walking out of the room.

"And how would you know that?!" another Gode asked.

"We're on the first floor. The drop was ten feet at the most."

At that point in time, Orestes walked in.

"Go and retrieve him," He told the other guards standing around him, and they hurried outside. He pulled the guard who was bleeding to his feet and said, "You're an assassin, too," It wasn't a question.

"Yes," the Gode hissed.

"Take him to the infirmary. Then he will be put on trial."

"Yes sir."

Orestes turned towards Vince. "You must leave as soon as possible. I myself will guard your room as you sleep now. In the morning you will depart for the City of the Tril."

"Thank you, Orestes and Magnel."

"Anything, Vince. It was no problem." Magnel replied, his eyes turning slightly purple.

Once again Vince entered his room and tried to rest. Eventually it came and he was awoken by Orestes. After he had said farewell to Orestes, Perseus, and Telemachus, the two chariots setout once again out of the forests that was the Gode's city.

This time, Vince was armed with a sword on his belt, in case of another attack from the SSC. The rough terrain seemed even worse this time, but Vince was sort of used to it. They sped along, with the Vuul struggling at the front to pull the great wait.

All along side them, Vince saw Vuul running free, Tril, Gode and Ivs living outside of the cities, rivers running, and a mysterious huge walllooming off in the distance. The climate in this area was very cold; Vince's thin garments did not warm him up very much.

They were coming to the large wooden rope bridge once again. Vince, as well as Achnid, had noticed another chariot trailing them. While both the human and the king were suspicious, neither of them said nothing until Achnid caught a glimpse of the sashes the riders were wearing.

"Damn," Achnid murmured, then said to Millia, who was handling the reigns, "Speed up. The SSC is on our trail."

She whipped the reigns, and the Vuul gained speed. Hypnos noticed this and did the same. Vince thought they would be OK until he saw more and more SSC chariots seemingly appear from nowhere. There were at least a dozen of them.

"Shit," he mumbled as he nervously unsheathed his sword. Everyone else did the same. On the bridge was a bigger chariot, painted red. The passengers were standing next to it. The approaching chariots caught up pretty quickly, but Hypnos managed to capsize one and Millia impaled one of the riders in another. But they were eventually overwhelmed, and Vince was pushed out of the chariot, while Magnel and Millia yelled "No!"

Both chariots had just pulled onto the bridge, and the riders from the red chariot had lunged and missed at the passing vehicles. By the time the Tril's chariot had started slowing down, they were on the other side of the rope bridge, and were chased off by yet another chariot.

The members of the SSC that were on the bridge walked over to Vince, who was lying down because of his leg that he had just injured.

A Gode wearing a red sash came forward. Vince could tell this was the leader of the SSC. The one responsible for the many lives SSC had taken. Next to him was a gigantic Iv, much bigger than Thanatos. He wore a sash that nearly covered his entire body it was so big.

The leader smiled. "Hello, Vince." All of the Gode had similar voices, but Vince knew he had heard this voice just recently.

"W-what do you want?" Vince relied, trying to mask his fear, and failing terribly.

"Information." The leader hissed, with a horrible smile on his face. He came closer to Vince, and put all five of his left talons on Vince's shoulder.

"Tell me." he said, "What plans does Achnid have for the wall? Does he wish to destroy it?"

Wall? Vince thought, Does he mean that huge wooden wall I saw during the trip?

Vince decided to pretend he didn't know anything, because he didn't, "Wall? What are you talking about?"

"We know Achnid discussed this with you," the large Iv growled. "Now tell us."

"I don't know anything about the wall."

"Perhaps you need to be persuaded," The leader said with a wicked grin. And with that, he took his left talons, and stabbed all five of them into Vince's right shoulder.

* * *

There you go, hoped you like it. Next chapter is gonna be great.


	11. Prince of the Gode

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Vince screamed in agony as the talons of the leader of the SSC pierced his flesh. Blood was staining Vince's clothes. He couldn't see straight, everything was a blur. The leader only laughed, along with the other members on the bridge.

"Ready to talk now?" the leader asked.

Even though he didn't know anything about the wall, Vince knew he couldn't leak any information. "N-no, I'm not s-saying anything…."

"Very well then." The leader replied, and pushed his talons deeper into Vince's body. "Now?"

"NO!!" Vince yelled, as loud as he could, the pain overwhelming him. The leader flinched.

"Hm. Usually they submit. Well, I suppose we have to kill you." He pulled his talons out of Vince and pointed to the large Iv. "You, make sure he dies as slowly as possible."

"My pleasure," the Iv said with as much malice as he could. He walked over and raised his right arm, the point of the bone sticking out looking especially sharp.

_Dammit,_ Vince thought, _what can I do?! I'm going to die! _

Even through all of the pain, Vince remembered his training with Virgil. His face! The Iv was cocky and didn't seem to notice that even though Vince was in great pain, he wasn't harmless. The soft skin of his face was exposed. Vince felt around behind him and grabbed the hilt of his sword. The blade was broken, but the tip was still sharp.

Right before the Iv tried to stab Vince, the human swiped his stub of a sword across his face, spilling even more blood all over Vince.

"SHIT! NO! MY EYES!!" the Iv roared at a deafening volume. "I'M BLIND!!" He stumbled backwards into the other SSC members, knocking them over. He got back up, swinging his right ar at Vince as the human got up. His situation still didn't seem much better. _Come on! _he thought to himself, _There's got to be something you can do! _He couldn't make it past them or go back, they'd just chase him in their chariot. While Vince was trying to think of a plan, he had walked backwards into the side of the bridge. That's when his idea came to him. While the blind Iv was still getting closer, Vince started slashing at the ropes suspending the bridge.

"Stop him! Stop the filthy human!" the leader ordered, but it was too late. Vince had cut through several ropes already, and the weight of all of the creatures on the bridge was too much. It gave away, sending the SSC leader, the blinded Iv, the rest of the members, and Vince plummeting into the abyss below.

Hours passed. Vince awoke to the sound of rushing water, and opening his eyes, he noticed he was floating down a river. Weakly, he pulled himself onto the bank. His shoulder felt like it was on fire. Blood was still seeping out, and he felt dizzy. He sat down on the bank, and tore a long length of his shirt off to rap around his shoulder to stop the bleeding.

Vince looked around, and found his sword being carried off by the water. He snatched it out of the river, just in case any members of the SSC had survived the fall. He walked along the edge of the river, in the direction he thought the Tril city was in. Along the way, he found some bodies of the SSC members, but none of them were the leader or the blind Iv. Vince wondered if they had been carried off by the river.

After a few minutes, he saw a small Vuul with its back toward Vince. As he got closer, he thought it was a male, as they were smaller than the females.

It was just standing there, looking at a large rock on the wall of the cliff. It noticed Vince and growled, then quickly ran away. Vince decided to take a closer look at the rock it was staring at. He noticed it could probably be moved with enough force. He started pushing on it, but the strain on his injured shoulder was too great.

Exhausted, Vince sat on the bank of the river. Suddenly, Vince could hear something running towards him. He quickly stood up, and raised his small weapon. But it was only the male Vuul he had seen earlier. Behind it was a Gode, but it wasn't wearing a sash and didn't appear injured in any way. The mark on its chest was an x with strange designs on it. It reminded Vince of Telemachus' symbol.

"Ah, this is what you saw," the Gode said to the Vuul, in an accent that sounded Italian. "Good work, Apollo."

Vince, puzzled, asked, "Who are you?"

"Hello, surfacer. I'm surprised I didn't meet you at the palace. I am King Telemachus' son, Aegeus," he stuck out a hand, and Vince shook it. "You are Vince, yes? Orestes told me about you."

"Yes, I'm Vince. Why are you out here?"

"My father sent me out looking for you. My tracking skills are phenomenal."

"Why did he want to look for me?"

He leaned a bit closer and said, "My father is suspicious about Hypnos, who is a high ranking officer in the Iv army. Personally, I think Hypnos is a great person, but I'd rather be safe. When I saw that the bridge was out, I got worried and decided to search down here."

Apollo, Aegeus' pet Vuul, was rubbing himself against the leg of his owner. Aegeus looked to him and said "What is it?" Apollo ran over to the rock he had been looking at earlier. "Ah, I see," Aegeus said, "Nice work. I've also been looking for traces of a SSC hideout, and I think this may be it."

He went over to the rock, and with surprising strength, he moved the rock out of the way so a tunnel appeared where the rock used to be. Above the tunnel, SSC was carved into the side of the cliff.

"Well, let's go in." Aegeus said to Vince. "Apollo, stay out here and tell me if there's any trouble out here."

Aegeus went into the dark tunnel, and Vince followed, sword raised. There was dust everywhere, and a musty smell. If this was a hideout, it must have been abandoned sometime ago.

Eventually they came to a large opening, with papers all over the floor. Tacks holding nothing up were all over a wooden board leaning on a wall. Aegeus walked over to it and picked up the one piece of paper that was on the board. It appeared to be a map of the Sacred Land, at the top it said: Location of New Hideout.

"Perfect," Aegeus muttered. "Just what I was looking for." He looked over the papers on the floor, and exclaimed, "A member list! Wonderful! Even the leader's name is here!"

Before Vince could ask who it was, a loud bark was heard outside. "What was that?" he asked.

"Damn, I think it was Apollo," Aegeus replied. "I'll go see what it is."

"OK, I'll wait here."

He went back down the tunnel again. Vince heard loud sounds as if there were a struggle, and a yelp from Apollo. Vince didn't know what to do. He had no doubt Aegeus could handle himself, and Vince's shoulder hurt badly just when he raised it, but Aegeus could use the help.

Against his better judgment, Vince set off down the tunnel to help out the Gode prince.


	12. Found?

Took forever...but it's here. Callisto couldn't beta this one, so this was beta'd by Ares is Awesome.

* * *

Chapter 12

Vince swallowed nervously as he walked down the tunnel. What was out there? He tightened his grip on the broken sword and kept moving along.

When he came out of the old SSC HQ, he didn't see Aegeus, Apollo, or any thing that might have caused a problem. But then he noticed blood in the river. Going down to the bank, he saw Aegeus. But something was wrong.

A sword was sticking out of Aegeus' abdomen. He didn't look dead, but he wasn't going to last long in his condition.

"Aegeus!" Vince said, running over to him, "What happened! Who did this to you?"

"Ugh…" he grumbled, blood coming out of his mouth, "SSC…"

"Where did he go?"

He coughed and more blood came out, spilling blood on Vince's already blood stained shirt. "I…don't know…"

"Dammit…" Then Vince remembered that Apollo was out here too. He looked around and spotted the small Vuul a few feet away. He was also injured, he had three claw marks on his side, but one of them looked fatter than the others, as if one of the claws was broken.

Claws. That meant it was a Gode who had attacked them. But the Gode don't use swords. So there must have been a Tril with them, as they were the only species in the Sacred Land that did use swords.

"The papers…" Aegeus mumbled, "He took them…"

_Damn! _Vince thought, _We needed those! _

Vince took off his shirt, planning to use the fabric as bandages. He didn't know anything about first aid, should he take the sword out of Aegeus?

"Aegeus, I'm going to help you, you need to tell me if I should take this sword out or not,"

He didn't respond, he only sat there breathing heavily. "Come on! Don't die! Please answer!" Vince pleaded.

"Out…" he replied quietly.

"OK, this is going to hurt."

He grasped the hilt of the sword with his right hand; his left was holding a large piece of his shirt. He hesitated a bit before pulling the sword out, initiating a loud scream from Aegeus. Quickly, Vince put his shirt over the wound, and applied pressure. This made Aegeus grunt in pain, but he managed to say to Vince, "Go help Apollo, I'll hold this myself."

Vince nodded and let go, giving Aegeus the shirt to stop the bleeding. He set the sword down near the bank of the river, and went over to Apollo, who was whimpering near Aegeus' leg.

"Come on, Apollo," Vince said to the little creature, "I'll help you out." Using a strip of fabric from his shirt, he wrapped it around Apollo, covering his wound. "There, that should do it."

They waited there for about an hour before they heard the voice. It was definitely an Iv's voice, it was deep and monotonous. It was getting closer, and Vince could see it walking towards them near the edge of the water.

As the Iv got closer, Vince could see that it was the huge Iv he had blinded on the bridge. He was covering his face with the eyelid thing, and blood was seeping out it. The sharp piece of bone on his right arm was chipped, and he was stumbling about, obviously not knowing where he was going.

"Damn," Vince murmured, and then turned to Aegeus and said quietly, "Come on. we got to go. There's an Iv from the SSC coming this way."

"Urgh…" Aegeus grunted, who had been asleep, "Let's get going…carry Apollo for me…"

"Sure," Vince replied, lifting the small Vuul into his arms. The weight of the small animal put a huge strain on Vince's shoulder, and he gritted his teeth to keep from crying out in pain. Aegeus weakly stood up, and started walking in the direction he said the Tril city was in. Vince followed behind with Apollo in his arms.

Vince could hear the Iv's loud voice as thy left, "Damn kid, got my eyes…"

They walked along the side of the river, and Vince looked back and saw the blind Iv feeling the side of the cliff, probably looking for the old SSC hide out.

Vince noticed Aegeus was starting to limp, and he said to the injured Gode, "Take a rest. You need to save your strength."

"But…we...gotta…make…it…" he puffed. Regardless of what he said, he collapsed on the ground and was soon asleep. Vince lay Apollo on the ground and sat next to Aegeus, hoping that they were found soon.

The SSC leader grinned maliciously at him, his long, sharp claws digging into Vince's flesh.

He was speaking words that Vince could not hear, all sounds muffled by the intense pain. The claws were pulled out, and the giant Iv came over and raised his right "arm".

The dream ended, and Vince jerked awake. "Vince..." Aegeus was mumbling next to him, "Did anyone ever tell you that you talk in your sleep?"

Vince chuckled, "Yeah. People tell me that all of the time." He looked over at the Gode prince and noticed he looked a lot better than he did before. "How long was I out?"

"Almost two days."

"We better get moving."

"Yeah."

Vince stood up and helped Aegeus to his feet. "Let's go."

Before Vince could pick up Apollo, he heard a voice calling his name. "Vincent!"

It was female, and Vince knew exactly who it was. "Millia!" he called back. He hoped he was right, even though he was certain he was.

"Virgil! It's them!" Vince heard Millia.

"Phew. Never been so glad to see them." Aegeus said.

"Vince!" Virgil called down, "We'll be down in a second!"

About five minutes later, Vince and Aegeus were following Virgil (who was carrying Apollo) back to where he, Millia, and Magnel had set up a cap so they could search this area.

"We were about to give up," Virgil was saying, "We were only going to give it a few more hours."

"Thanks for keeping up the search."

They arrived at the camp, and were greeted warmly by Magnel, Millia, and Orestes.

"Tell us what happened, Vince." Magnel asked.

Vince told him the story of blinding the Iv, destroying the bridge, being sound by Aegeus, finding the hide out, and Aegeus' attack. Orestes seemed interested in the papers that were taken from the hide out.

"Do you remember any names from the roster?"

"Hm…" Aegeus replied, "I don't think your name was on it, Orestes, so it must have been a newer list. I didn't look at it for too long."

"The blind Iv won't be too hard to find." Vince said with a small laugh.

After Virgil rewrapped Aegeus' wound with gauze, Magnel and Orestes packed everything and set up the chariots. They had to take a longer way back to the Tril's city since Vince destroyed the rope bridge.

Vince sighed. Hopefully he would be back on the surface soon.

* * *

Thanks for the read. Unfortunately, this is coming to an end soon. Few more chapters left.


	13. Nobody

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

A group of SSC members had started a few fires in a small city that was on the route back to the Tril city, causing Vince and his escorts had to camp out on the outskirts. The rocks in this part of the Sacred Land shone a dark green, so the lighting wasn't all that good. Magnel and Virgil had set up a fire, and everyone lay around it, trying to stay warm.

A few hours after they had gone to sleep, Vince woke up from another dream, this time about the assassin in the Gode palace. Upon awakening, he saw that the fire had gone out, and that everyone else was asleep. He sat alone for a while, trying to finally get some rest, as the recent events had left him exhausted. It didn't come. He sat up, deciding it was useless to try.

There was a small sound to his left. Looking over in that direction, Vince saw a cave, where the figure of a Sacred was standing. Vince could only see its head; the rest was covered in darkness. It seemed hunched over.

Its head was wrapped in white cloth, so that not even the eyes were visible. Vince had no idea whether it was a Tril or a Gode. "Vince, correct?" the creature growled in a gruff voice.

_Who the hell is that?_ Vince asked himself, unsure of what to say. He asked the usual question, "Who are you?"

"Neither enemy nor friend," the creature replied. "I am Nobody. I know only this: there is more than one traitor. Be cautious of those around you, and trust no one. Your meeting with the SSC leader on the bridge was no accident. They knew you would be there, and they set flames to the city near this location to hinder your progress. They are planning to strike once more on your journey to the Tril city. Be wary of your surroundings, and speak to no one of this."

Vince wasn't sure what to say. This guy obviously either had someone on the inside or was a member of the SSC himself. "How do you now all this? Are you in the SSC?"

"That was all I can tell you. You saw Nobody." he disappeared into the cave in a flash, and Vince got up to try to follow him, despite the possible danger of the situation.

"Wait!" he said in a hushed voice, not wanting to wake the others. The cave wasn't very large, and by the time he had reached the back, Nobody was gone.

"Damn," Vince whispered, and went back to the entrance to try to get back to sleep. But the thoughts of the strange Sacred kept him from getting rest.

Once everyone was up, they immediately packed up the chariots to move on. Vince thought of the creatures warning. _One more attack…shit, this is going to be tough. _

He started to become more and more paranoid as the minutes dragged on. None of the others seemed worried; they just lazily looked around and once in a while Millia would whip the reigns of the chariot and Orestes would whip the reigns on his, Virgil's, and Aegeus' chariot.

It was about three hours after they had started moving when Magnel saw something ahead. He pointed it out to the others, and they headed in its direction. It was a Gode; bruised and bloodied. The two chariots stopped to help him. He had his back turned and was sitting on the ground, rambling quietly to himself.

He looked back at the group with bright, gray eyes. When he turned around, Vince recognized his diamond shaped symbol.

"Perseus!" Millia gasped, rushing over to him and helping him up.

"Thank you…" he said quietly. His face was scarred and scratched, he had dried blood all over his arms and chest, one of his claws was broken and it looked like one of his arms was bending the wrong way.

"Damn, what the hell happened?" Virgil asked.

"The SSC…" he said simply. 'They attacked me yesterday. Telemachus sent me out with some other guards to search for Aegeus…"

Vince looked back at Aegeus. He expected him to be glad that Perseus was alright; he must have known him for years. But the Gode prince had eyes the color of blood.

"Millia…" he said calmly, "get away from him."

Fear and confusion came over Vince. He had no idea why Aegeus wouldn't be glad to see him. But then Vince made the connection. He was injured, had a broken claw, and was out here near where the bridge used to be. Vince looked back at Apollo, remembering the wound on the Vuul's side. "You don't mean…."

"W-what?" Perseus stammered, "Why, Aegeus?! W-we're old friends!"

Apollo, at Perseus feet, backed up and hid behind Magnel like a frightened dog. The Tril commander stood in stunned silence. "You…" he said softly. "No way….." Millia let go of him and backed away.

"Millia…Magnel…please, believe me! I…I… I have not done anything!"

"Bull shit!" Orestes yelled, stepping closer to the injured Gode, "You! You're the SSC leader! I should have known!"

Perseus' eyes flashed an array of colors, from a deep dark gray to a faint red. "Orestes…please…"

"Perseus, you bastard…" Orestes growled, "For sixty years I've taken the blame for you…and this is how you repay me? By trying to start a new war?! We should kill you now!"

The eyes of all the Sacreds were red. Magnel and Virgil drew their swords, closing in on the Perseus. Vince gripped the hilt of his sword as well, remembering the warning he was given. Perseus had planned this. He knew what was coming next.

As Magnel raised his sword to strike at the SSC leader, his weapon was knocked out of his hand by an arrow. Behind them, a huge, red chariot carrying SSC members was getting closer. Perseus took this chance and ran surprisingly fast. They couldn't go after him; the Sacreds in the chariot would have killed them. Instead, the group prepared for a battle, as the large wooden vehicle sped towards them.


End file.
